How to Eat on a Budget While Traveling

February 23, 2018

Mmmm eating. Possibly one of my all-time favorite activities. And one of the best ways to keep costs down is to eat a budget while traveling. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to eat off the Dollar Menu at McDonald’s every day. But eating cheaply can help save a lot of money, which you could use to stay at a nicer hotel, buy that museum ticket, or hey…eat more food.

No judgment. I’ve been there.

If you’re looking to eat cheaply on your trip, here are some great ways to eat on a budget while traveling!

How to Eat on a Budget While Traveling

Research ahead of time

I am a chronic planner. Before every trip, I scour the internet and read dozens of articles about my destinations. Many websites offer valuable insight about food and budget eats around the world. Even I have a few. (Anyone headed to Italy soon?) By simply googling “Cheap places to eat in X” you can often find lots of suggestions on places to go that will help you eat on a budget while traveling.

TripAdvisor Cheap Eats filter

I have a strict love/hate relationship with TripAdvisor. You have to take their reviews with a grain of sand because people are statistically more likely to report bad experiences over good ones. However, I really like using TripAdvisor for their food recommendations. If you go to www.tripadvisor.com/restaurants and type in your destination, it will bring up tons of information. But, if you scroll down, you can choose to only see those categorized as “Cheap Eats”

These delicious hot dogs are highly rated on TripAdvisor!

Bring something from home

If you are traveling to a location that is known for having more expensive food (i.e. Iceland) you may want to consider packing some food items from your home. Things like pasta, ramen noodles, rice, and dry soup mixes are lightweight, cheap items that you can bring and eat on your trip. You’ll just want to make yourself aware of the food procedures at customs. Some countries don’t allow you to bring in certain foods.

On my way to Europe, I brought a bag of bagels on the plane with me. They lasted several days into my trip and made it so I didn’t have to spend money on expensive airport food or worry about finding food right when I got to Brussels.

Free hostel/hotel breakfasts

Eating on a budget while traveling doesn’t get any better than a free breakfast! Many hotels and hostels offer a free breakfast when you stay with them. I make it a point to try and find places to stay that offer free breakfast with their nightly rate. Then, in the mornings I try to eat a lot and get myself nice and full. That way I’m not looking to buy more food in an hour or two.

However, it is important to do your research. Sometimes staying in a place that offers free breakfast will cost you significantly more than staying somewhere else. In this case, that free breakfast isn’t really “free” and it’s better to go with the cheaper option.

Bring a water bottle

Bringing a reusable water bottle can help a ton when sticking to a budget! Buying bottle after bottle of water from the store can really add up. Plus it’s terrible for the environment. Just top up your reusable bottle with water from the tap at your hostel and you’ve saved yourself like $3 that day! Maybe more!

I really recommend this water bottle by LifeStraw. The straw inside filters out 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria and parasites, so you don’t have to worry about whether the tap water is safe to drink!

Keeping hydrated in Israel!

Grocery Shop and Make your own meals

Going to grocery stores and food markets abroad is one of my favorite things to do because it can give you a lot of insight into the country’s culture. By going to the store and buying the ingredients to make your own food, you can save a lot of money, just like at home! Plus, it gives you the opportunity to make food you can eat on the go and save time for more exploring!

A bountiful fruit market in Guatemala

Avoid eating near tourist attractions

You’ll probably hear this tip all over the interwebs, but it is very true. Many restaurants that are in close proximity to major tourist attractions are overpriced and serve crappy, inauthentic food. Instead, the usual key is to walk at least 3 blocks away from the attraction before finding a place to eat. You are much more likely to find a place with decent prices and better food, away from the hustle and bustle of tourist areas.

Bakeries are your best friend

I mean, who doesn’t love a good bakery? If you really want to eat on a budget while traveling, you are definitely going to want to hit up a bakery or two. Local bakeries offer breads and pastries, often for less than $1 each. Many will also make things like pizza, sandwiches, and salads that will be super affordable. Whenever I’m looking for super cheap food that will keep me full, I look for bakeries!

There’s Savings in Soup

Another one of my go-to cheap foods is soup. Soup is almost always one of the cheapest items you can get at a restaurant. And you can find lots of places that just sell cheap soups and sandwiches. Plus eating soup is a great way to sneak in your veggies while traveling!

Find a Festival

Exploring local festivals is a really fun way to eat on a budget while traveling. Where there are festivals there is food. Many times you can find stalls handing out free samples of food. Or at least cheap street food you can enjoy. Plus attending festivals and events is a great way to immerse yourself in the local culture.

When I visited Ghent, Belgium, I followed the sounds of music one afternoon and found myself at a Sikh religious festival. They were all dressed up and singing and dancing. They were handing out free food to everyone and invited me to join. I had a delicious meal of curry, rice, and vegetables with sweet Indian Chai, met some super cool people, and got to learn a little about a different religion! That’s a mega travel win.

So much color and free food at this Sikh festival!

Lunch, FTW

If you are going to eat a big meal during the day, make that meal at lunchtime. Many restaurants offer lunch specials for significantly cheaper than at dinnertime. This lets you fill up on good food at a cheaper price, and you can save money on a smaller meal at dinner.

A delicious and filling Philly Cheesesteak for lunch!

Give yourself some splurge meals

Food is one of the best ways to learn about and experience a new place. If you’ve been good at maintaining your spending, you should definitely treat yo’self to a good splurge meal or two. Go ahead and enjoy that fancy restaurant you read about. Book yourself a unique dining experience, like eating at an underwater restaurant, or one that hangs hundreds of feet in the air! This way you can still experience the destination through its food and enjoy some nicer meals while you travel.

My hubby and I splurged on these decadent pancakes in Sydney, Australia

Eating on a budget while traveling doesn’t mean you have to give up all the fun. By using these tips, you can keep both your belly AND your wallet full!

51 Comments

The advice is right on point. I follow a lot of your advice such as taking advantage of lunch specials, eating street food, in market and festivals and taking some snacks from home. I have observed that for many people the food budget is consumed by alcohol intake. I recommend taking moderation on that to save money.

Great tips – I’m all about the big lunch, and usually a very late lunch, too, so that I often skip dinner all together, or just enjoy a sweet snack from a street vendor. I always bring breakfast food, or stop at the store on the way to my hotel – breakfast is so expensive to eat out and usually I just want to start my day!

Oh yes! I often combine lunch and dinner too! I agree, eating out for breakfast is usually a waste of money and the portions are usually way too much! I’d rather have a free hotel breakfast or a cheap pastry!

Nice tips! I always tried to each cheap when I traveled solo. Now that I travel with my partner, we started ordering one thing every time we eat out and split it down the middle. It costs 1/2 price, fills us up (as portion sizes are often quite large), and enables us to try different foods more readily as we aren’t spending as much!

I brought some food items and snacks from home on my trip to St. Lucia as the prices were more $$$ and they sold my country’s products there anyway!!! I also recommend buying a hearty lunch from the supermarkets as many of them serve hot food, next to the bakery section.

Was that splurge meal in Sydney from Pancakes on the Rocks? OMG they’re amazing. Love your tips! I’m a big fan of the hostel breakfast and hostels usually have a free food section that other travelers have left behind.

Your post really made me hungry! I’ve never heard of cansoncelli before but want to try it now. Your tip about going to food festivals is a great idea. I never thought of it before but will start looking for ones when I book my travel.

These are such great tips! I always do my research before a trip, and food is the first thing I look into. I don’t drink alcohol that often so I feel like that’s helped my budget for the most part too.

These are some great tips! I remember back in my backpacking super budget days we would take the free breakfast from hostels and wrap extras for lunch. Though the using lunch as your main meal is also a great way to save money, I hadn’t really thought about that before.

These are some excellent tips on budgeting your food costs while travelling. In iceland I lived in the local bakery just because it was so expensive to eat out. True about tripadvisor; you can’t trust everything you read!

You have listed some really great advice here! I especially like the one about lunch specials and “where there are festivals there is food!” So true, hehe. And I cannot agree more about the bakeries – I absolutely love hunting them down and enjoying pastries and the like for breakfast before a day exploring. Thanks for sharing!

I definitely agree with you on your point on not eating near tourist attractions. The vendors really jack up the price by shocking amounts just to pull in those extra tourist dollars.

I don’t really share the same opinion on saving on food to spend on more costly accommodation, because I love trying out new cuisines and local fare since I’m already in a foreign land and what better way to infuse myself in the culture than to eat like a local? Instead, I’ll slash accommodation costs as I’m going to spend most of my time exploring the city anyway 🙂 I usually pass on free hotel breakfasts to try local meals as well, maybe I’m just weird!

Nah, man, you’re not weird. We all have our different travel styles. I’m not a big foodie, so I’m not too concerned with having expensive cuisines and sit-down meals. I’d rather spend the extra on cool, once in a lifetime experiences 🙂

Fantastic tips here! For me, eating is one of the most important parts of experiencing a new country and culture, so I’m always looking for ways to taste as much as I can without blowing the bank. I’m a huge advocate for markets and bakeries, and often opt for a small breakfast of coffee and fresh fruit to justify a tasty lunch full of good local eats!

These are such great ideas! Sometimes I joke with Ben that I’m not sure what people who don’t like to eat 24/7 do while traveling… It’s the best way to experience another culture! We definitely rely on google to find us yummy cheap eats, and hitting up local markets is another great strategy, SO much delicious produce to be found!

Great tips! I would add another one: Brunch! If you get a brunch you can skip a meal! 😉 Like you said, the restaurant outside the tourist attractions are cheaper and most of the time they are the best!

Bravo for pointing out how plastic bottles are terrible for the environment! I have been carrying around the reusable water bottle on most of my travels lately, it’s really not that complicated compared to constantly buying new plastic bottles. Also, avoiding tourist areas when looking for a place to eat is the ultimate travel advice. 😉 You can eat so much better and for a better price!

I totally agree with you that in order to eat on a budget while traveling it’s best to avoid tourist area. Bakeries are certainly also great places to eat at when one doesn’t one to spend much on food. And we also like to stay at hotels that offer free buffet breakfast when visiting expensive cities!

Fantastic tips! Many of these I did not even think about. Especially finding food at festivals or saving money by buying something cheaper like soup! We try to take advantage of hotel continental breakfasts but it’s always so hard to get up early to make it! Very helpful list. Food is too easy to become one of your biggest money spenders while traveling!

Great tips! I didn’t think to use Trip Advisor for looking for cheap eats! That’s a great idea and to think so many people take the time to submit their reviews. I am a big fan of going to markets and Air Bnbs are my best friend. Being able to make simple meals is the best way to not only save money but also eat healthily.

The list is really helpful. I am not a foodie but the husband is and a friend of ours who is our always travel companion. The reason for that is that I easily get an upset stomach and that is a nightmare when traveling. What I just do is take a little sample of the husband and friends food.

Great ideas on saving money on food, while traveling. I too buy food stuff like chips, biscuits, nuts, drinks and water from nearby supermarket. Bringing some packed food stuff from home and looking for cheap eat deals is a nice tip.

Honestly don’t know why I’m torturing myself reading through this in the middle of the night because those cansoncelli and hot dog look to die for! Awesome tips although I will, however, disagree with you there on the bakery. I feel like sometimes even the small, less fancy bakery shops charge ridiculous amounts for say a croissant. Or maybe that’s just in North America. That El Salvador bakery is insanely cheap!

Food is love, food is life ! I never search for places (but times showed me many times I SHOULD) because I never where I’ll end up at the end of the day. But it’s hard sometimes balancing between wanting to enjoy local food at pricey restaurant because you won’t know when you’ll come back, and make food yourself to save money for the next travel ….

Food can be such an expensive part of a trip. We love to try to save money by going to grocery stores in our destinations. That gives us a cheap way to get snacks and drinks and also a great way to get more of the local flavor. These are great tips.

These are some great tips to save on food while traveling. We travel as a family, there are five of us, so any thing we can do to save money is great. Luckily for now we are traveling in our RV so we bring our kitchen with us and do a lot of grocery shopping. It is also our thing to pack lunches and snacks, we have kids and they are always hungry. Hopefully we will take our travels abroad soon and these tips are really helpful. Especially the one about the festivals, something I had never thought of before. Thanks for sharing.

I’m Brianna and I’m possibly the funniest person I know. I’m a total goofball who loves to travel. I fell in love with the world in 2007, when my family and I moved to Sydney, Australia. Since then, I’ve been on a mission to see the world. I'm an ordinary adventurer here to show you how the average person can travel the world.

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